The integrated circuits that control various operations performed by disk drives typically generate a great deal of heat. Moreover, as disk drive performance has improved, these integrated circuits have been clocked faster and faster, causing them to generate even more heat. If this heat cannot be properly dissipated from the integrated circuits, they can overheat and cause operational errors.
Conventionally, disk drive integrated circuits are located on a printed circuit board facing a disk drive base. Portions of the disk drive base may be raised towards one or more of the integrated circuits, and, thus, the relatively large metallic disk drive base may serve as a heat sink for the heat generated by the integrated circuits during operation.
In order for the disk drive base to serve as an effective heat sink, the integrated circuits and the disk drive base should be positioned in close proximity. However, if the disk drive base applies excessive pressure to an integrated circuit, the printed circuit board carrying the integrated circuit may be undesirably bowed outwards from the disk drive base. Thus, the effectiveness of the heat sink must be balanced against the amount of pressure that can be applied to the printed circuit board, and this balance must be maintained over a range of manufacturing tolerances.
There is therefore a need for improved structures for cooling disk drive integrated circuits.